Canadian Press Coverage in the Middle East :: Canada Media Middle East News Essays

Canadian Press Coverage in the Middle East In December 1985, the Canadian press reported the death by suicide of hundreds of field mice in the Middle East. In an apparently instinctive reaction to a problem of over-population, the mice willfully plunged to their doom off the cliffs of the Golan Heights. This bizarre story was the subject not only of straight news coverage in the Canadian press, but also of an editorial in the Globe and Mail on December 20. On November 1, 1985, the Globe and Mail also ran a photograph of a visiting Roman Catholic priest from Brazil, saying prayers on the banks of the Jordan River at the site where Christ is said to have been baptized. Standing alertly near the priest was an Israeli soldier with a rifle slung over his shoulder, his eyes carefully scanning Jordanian territory across the river. For the analyst of the media and media image-making, these rather unusual press items raise an interesting question about news selection and presentation by the editorial departments of the daily press. Had the mice toppled off Mount Kilimanjaro would this essentially scientific story about animal behavior have found its way so prominently into the Canadian press? Had the priest been peacefully saying mass on the Mountain would this religious item have been deemed worthy of coverage? Or was it the newspapers' sense of the irony of these events, of their news value as symbols depicting the pervasive conflict and violence we have come to associate with the Middle East that led to their selection for publication from the reams of teletype endlessly flowing into the editorial departments of the Canadian press? It would seem that even when the subject matter is scientific or religious--about mice or monsignors--the press is inclined to remind its readers of the inherently violent nature o f the Middle East, and a fundamentally negative image is developed or reinforced. It is, Canadians are told in effect, a region so bleak and hopeless that even its despairing mice are driven to take their lives. The purpose of this study is to examine in an empirical fashion Canadian daily press coverage of the Middle East to establish, inter alias, what type of image of the region and of its principal actors (Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states) is, in fact, resented to the Canadian reader and what impact, if any, the character of that coverage has had on the shaping of Canadian foreign policy.

Of Mice And Men Slim Questions Essay

Question A- How does the extract improve the reader’s understanding of Slim? The passage immediately introduces Slim as an authoritative and almost regal member of the ranch: â€Å"He moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen.† Most of the men working on the ranch are transient and poor and, although Slim is no exception, he does not share their careless and selfish attitudes. Slim also accepts his authority and responsibilities, despite the fact that he would have little respect outside of the ranch, which, ironically, places him in high standing on the ranch. This is emphasized by the admiration and respect given to him by the others: â€Å"†¦the prince of the ranch†. He is awarded a title by the others due to the fact that they do not see him as equal to them; they view him as an almost mythical person of extreme benevolence and compassion. They therefore give him more attention and hold him higher esteem than they do with anyone else on the ranch, meaning that Slim has, in the men’s opinions; become the unofficial leader of the ranch. Furthermore, the passage describes Slim as something similar to a divine being: â€Å"His hatchet face was ageless†. This suggests that, to the others, Slim is god-like and unique in his ability to never fail physically and consequently never to suffer the pain, humiliation and uselessness anyone else would be forced into, as demonstrated by Candy. Despite all of the adoration and respect surrounding Slim, it is clear to the reader that his future is that of the other men, as shown in the statement: ‘Like the others he wore blue jeans and a short denim jacket.’ Slim is like every other worker on the ranch; he is exactly as lonely and incomplete as they are, symbolised by his clothing, and he has to cope with the same problems. The reader is shown the reality before the idolised view, but it makes the build-up of his prowess and pre-eminence all the more staggering. It becomes apparent that despite all of the idolisation and respect that surrounds Slim, he will eventually succumb to his fate and become like Candy, useless and alone. Slim is displayed with an aura around him of intelligence and importance that is felt by everyone at the ranch: â€Å"There was a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all talk stopped when he spoke.† Slim is constantly presented as a stark difference to the other characters, someone to idealise and appears as something abnormal yet desired by them all. He becomes the other character’s paragon of perfection, everything they had wished to be. Similarly, he is shown to be considered omniscient by the others on the ranch: â€Å"His ear heard more and was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.† Slim is revered by the others as someone far beyond their comprehension as well as something they could only wish to be. They are all lonely and so connect to Slim as someone who they believe could protect them and could advise them without judging or pitying them; in his understanding of them, he becomes their guide and protector. Contrastingly, Steinbeck gives his character a very real and human nature to him as well: â€Å"‘It’s brigther’n a bitch outside,’ he said gently.† It is easy for the reader to become swept up in the exaggerated, romanticised and dramatised version of Slim but the reader is shocked by the simplicity of Slim’s mannerisms and behaviour, but this shock is not unpleasant. The contradiction throws the reader, but also shares with them the characters’ ability to befriend Slim despite his apparent superiority and further shows that despite his air of mystery and omniscience, he is similar to the other men. How does Steinbeck use the character of Slim to convey ideas and themes in the novel? Loneliness and isolation is despairingly apparent throughout the novel and Slim is used to highlight it: â€Å"Slim came directly to George and sat down beside him, sat very close.† Steinbeck uses Slim as a protector of George and a life line to redeem him, to accent the fact the in the aftermath of Lennie’s execution; George is then as completely alone as everyone else on the ranch and like the other transient workers during that time period. Slim is used throughout the novel to show the need for hope during the Great Depression, as shown when he comforts George. Slim is also used to show the inevitable loss of hope and the realisation that many cannot achieve their ‘American dream’: â€Å"You hadda, George. I swear you hadda.† The speech here is used as comfort to George after he shoots Lennie, but it also an equivocation and implies that George never really had an opportunity to achieve his and Lennie’s ‘American dream’, that none of the characters in the novel did and that they would always end up alone, no matter how hard they fight to change this. Furthermore, Slim’s character is used to display the harsh reality of the world and displays the efficient and unsentimental view of a ranch: â€Å"Candy looked a very long time at Slim to try to find some reversal. And Slim gave him none.† The cruel reality of a world where worth is decided by a single party and skills have no sway over events appears as a strange concept to the reader and Slim is used to demonstrate that it is necessary for him to pass judgement over the other men on the ranch and the events of the novel. Slim is displayed as the embodiment of strength and skill in the novel: â€Å"†¦capable of driving ten, sixteen, even twenty mules with a single line to the leaders.† This shows that he has value to the ranch and that he is still capable of working for them successfully and while used to boast his abilities, this description of Slim is also used to show that characters in the novel and the transient workers of the time needed to be useful in order to stay on for work and to keep in high opinions of their employers and co-workers. In this, Slim is shown to be useful, and therefore have value because he is still young and fit enough to work. Contrastingly, he is also shown to be limited and allows a shift in the good and evil balance: â€Å"You stay here with her then, Candy. The rest of us better get goin’.† Even though Slim’s abilities and influence are exaggerated by the imaginations of the men on the ranch, they are still real and if he had wished to stop Curley’s attempts to kill Lennie he probably would have succeeded. Steinbeck uses him here in the crucial moment that decides Lennie’s fate, to show that all evil needs to succeed is for good people not to stop it.

Elies Faith in God - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 963 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2019/03/22 Category Religion Essay Level High school Tags: Faith Essay Holocaust Essay World War 2 Essay Did you like this example? The Holocaust. A genocide that occurred during World War II. This catastrophic event lead to the death of around 6 million Jews. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Elies Faith in God" essay for you Create order And the mental, emotional, and physical damage of 17 million Jews. One of those Jews is Elie Wiesel. Eliezer Wiesel, Romanian-born American Jew, and author of the book Night. Which is a vividly detailed memoir, about his experience in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. Elie was taken at age 15, along with his father, his mother, and his three sisters. In this memoir, Elies struggle with his faith is a dominant conflict in Night. Elies faith takes a drastic revolution from being fully devoted to his faith, to rebelling against God, and to coming to means with his broken faith. In the beginning of Night, Elies faith was very strict and focused on his religious studies and his view of God. Eliezer has grown up believing that everything on Earth reflects Gods holiness and power. Elie was heavily studying Talmud and Kabbalah. Talmud is an elucidation of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Hebrew Bible. And Kabbalah is an esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought of Judaism. Eliezers faith is a product of his studies in Jewish mysticism, which teach him that God is everywhere in the world, that nothing exists without God. He speaks of his routine in the book when he writes, By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the temple (Wiesel 3). Even though his father believed he was too young explore the studies involved in Kabbalah, Eliezer remained committed to his quest to study Kabbalah and found himself a master who could guide him. And through out chapter one of Night, Elies belief in a good and pure God is so unconditional, that he himself does not understand how. This is brought up by Moishe the Beadle, when he begins to question Elie while he is praying. Elie mentioned this when he wrote, Why do you pray? he asked after a moment. Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe? I dont know, I told him, even more troubled and ill at ease. I dont know (Wiesel 4). This shows that Elie doesnt fully understand his faith, but his need for God as well as his commitment to his faith. Elies faith is completely broken by his tragic experience in the Holocaust. Because of all he has had to endure in these camps, his faith is slowly but surely diminishing. The suffering Elie sees and experiences during the Holocaust transforms his entire worldview. Before the war, he cannot imagine having to ever question his God. Observance and belief were unquestioned parts of his core sense of identity, so once his faith is irreparably shaken, he becomes a completely different person. Elies innocence is cruelly stripped from him. This is made known when Elie wrote, Behind me, I heard the same man asking: Where is God now?And I heard a voice within me answer him: Where is He? Here He is†He is hanging here on this gallows. . . . (Wiesel 62). The hanging of the young boy symbolizes the murder of God for Elie. The boys death also represents the death of Elies innocence. Once having his faith completely lost, Elie begins to rebel against anything involving God. At the end of summ er in 1944, the Jews of Buna come together to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, despite the cruelty that has been afflicted on them. Elies religious rebellion intensifies, and he cannot find a reason to bless God in the middle of so much suffering. Elie even mocks the idea that the Jews are Gods chosen people, deciding that they have only been chosen to be massacred. He exact words were, How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as our fathers, our mothers, our brothers end up in the furnaces? Praised be Thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine altar? (Wiesel 67). He feels as though praising God, in that moment was just foolish. Elies faith has undergone an irrevocable journey. From one having a firm devotion to God, his faith, and his studies. To completely abandoning his faith and his view of God. But this does not completely erase God from his conscious. When Elie is finally liberated, he ends up getting food poisoning, and has to in hospital for a few weeks in order to recover. It is then that he comes to a new found realization. In Night, this is revealed by Elie when he says, From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me (Wiesel 109). As he is looking in the mirror, he looks at the void within himself. The empty space which God no longer occupies. Even though Elie abandons his faith completely, he still continues to use biblical allusions throughout this book. An example of this is when Elie and his father are being being marched towards the a pit in the concentration camp. Elie says, My heart was about to burst. There. I was face-to-face with the Angel of Death.. Even though he is speaking of the Nazi soldiers, his Angel of Death alludes to the angel Azrael in the Old Testament. The evolution of Elies faith is a very intricate and grave piece needed in order to fully understand his experience. Because Elies faith took a drastic revolution from being fully devoted to his faith, to rebelling against God, and to coming to means with his broken faith.